One of a Kind
by WordsToShare
Summary: Mako couldn't understand why guys complained so much about their women. Because of it, he remained single, not wanting to go through all that drama, just waiting for a simple girl. Then, one day, Korra walked into the gym and everything changed. [Modern AU]
1. Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

Guys always complained about their women… They spend too much time in the bathroom. They own too many pairs of shoes. There's always some kind of pointless distress that keeps them from being "in the mood." Their friends, for some reason, always seemed to know everything about the relationship before the guy did. They're moody for several days a month and it's totally unpredictable (men… they never see that circled date on the calendar). It was infuriating.

Mako constantly heard the guys at the gym talk about their frustrations with their women. Always stating that they just wanted a "chill" girl, whatever that meant. One that let them do their thing, made them sandwiches, and had a gorgeous body that they'd let them play with whenever they wanted. Generally, he thought that was fairly degrading, knowing that if he wanted a sandwich he was perfectly capable of making one himself. Then again, it would be nice to have a fully accessible body within arms reach. 'Maybe one-day,' he would tell himself. But then, that one-day came when SHE walked into the gym.

'WOW,' he thought as he stared at the woman that entered the gym, making her way to the front desk. His heart stopped, seeing her perfectly built frame, confidant strides and glowing grin, being apparently too much for it to handle. The way she moved was mesmerizing. His eyes inched over every part of her, hardly noticing that she was walking his way, wrapping lift straps around her wrists in the process. It wasn't until she was practically right next to him, staring him dead in the face with a quizzical look that he realized he'd been glued to her for far too long.

"Is there something on my face?" she asked, blinking curiously.

"Uh –"

"Are you okay?"

"I – Uh –"

She giggled. 'Good grief, I could die right now and my life would have been happily fulfilled,' he mentally blessed his appreciative soul.

"Blink once for yes, twice for no."

He managed a single blink, his jaw dropping slightly at the same time.

"Alright, good. At least I know you're still alive in there." She smiled at her own revelation.

'If I don't do something soon she's going to think I'm a total buffoon. Make a move, you idiot.'

"Um – yes. I'm alive. Uh – I think," he started, not actually sure that his heart has started beating again. Speaking was a good indication of blood flow.

She giggled again, stretching her arms across her body in preparation for her workout. His eyes drifted to her beautifully toned, caramel colored arms as she did so, landing momentarily on her well-rounded chest as it swelled around each arm that pressed against it.

A whistle snapped him back to reality and he looked up. "Hey there, lover boy. Eyes up. This is a public establishment, mind you," her half smile an obvious indication of smugness in catching him in the act.

"Oh, shit…" He jumped up from the bench he had been sitting on during his lifting routine. In doing so he rammed the toes of his right foot into the dumbbell on the floor, causing him to trip. "DAMNIT!"

The girl reached out to catch him before he fell over entirely. The attempt was moot as they both came crashing to the floor.

"Must you be so heavy?" she chocked out from underneath him.

Mako groaned as he lifted himself onto his elbows, slowly opening his eyes to look under him. Bright azure eyes stared up at him. Her face was slightly contorted, signaling her discomfort, but her eyes were soft in genuine concern for his well-being. 'I could swim forever in the ocean that are those eyes…'

"Um – you're staring again. Are you sure you're alright?"

His eyes widened, realizing that he was not only staring, but laying almost entirely on top of her, one leg between hers and his hips pressing down on her perfectly sculptured body. In one swift motion he rolled away and onto his knees then pushed himself back up to his feet.

"I am SO sorry about that." He held out a hand for her, a gesture she noticed and smiled at before reaching up to accept his assistance.

"It's no problem, really. But seriously, are you okay? I've never seen someone so jumpy." She rose to her feet and brushed the dirt from the floor off her skin-tight leggings and fitted blue tank top she wore.

Reaching around to grab the back of his neck, he gave a small shrug and responded in kind, "yeah, I'm fine. Thanks. Sorry. I guess I can be a little distracted and clumsy sometimes."

Another giggle. 'God, this girl's laughs are amazing.'

"Alright, if you say so! I'd be worried you might hurt yourself regularly if that's your 'norm'."

He laughed at the thought. "Ha! Maybe. I promise that's not really a normal thing for me."

She smiled and nodded, giving an almost inaudible "hmm" in response before turning to the collection of dumbbells a few feet away.

'You're officially the biggest klutz ever,' he scolded himself as he, too, picked up his own set of weights and resumed his workout.

The next 20 minutes or so went by with Mako doing his best not to make a fool of himself again. However, that was proving to be very difficult as he continued to be hyper-aware of everything he was doing. 'Calm down, man. It's just a girl. You've been around plenty of them over the years.' Just as he made a mental note to stop being so weird, he closed his eyes, shook it off and turned around only to run into the girl… again. She stumbled backwards, gripping her nose, which he managed to hit with his shoulder. 'WHY ME?!'

"Oh my gosh, are you alright?!"

Her eyes we're shut tight and a line of blood began dripping past her lip below the hand that held her now seemingly broken nose. She gave a small wave with her free hand. "I'm fine."

"No you're not. You're bleeding!"

Mako grabbed one of the benches and quickly slid it across the flood behind her. "Here, sit down while I grab a towel and ice pack from the front desk." She took a seat and he sprinted off, quickly grabbling the items from the gym staff, who'd already pulled them out after seeing the collision from across the room.

In a few short seconds he was back, kneeling in front of her as he placed two fingers under her chin. "Lean your head back." She complied, her eyes still shut in obvious pain. With one hand, he pulled her hand away that was holding her nose, finally getting a good look at the damage he'd done. 'Not broken, thank goodness.' The hand he removed now lay across her lap, clenching slightly. 'I'd take bets that she's probably mad at me right about now. Good job, Mako. Superb effort.'

He poured some water from a bottle the staff had given him onto the towel, the object soaking it up in the process. One hand gently rested against the side of her face, his fingers brushing into her hair on the back of her head and thumb just under her chin, holding her hear in place. The other, towel in hand, began dabbing as the blood on her face, pressed lightly against the base of her nose in an effort to both clean the area and soak up the now slowing blood flow.

"Ack!" She winced, attempting to pull back slightly, her whole body stiffening at the same time. "That hurts," she hissed.

"I'm sorry, just try to hold still while I clean you up and stop the bleeding." His words came out breathily, apparently strained by the little air he'd taken in since his blunder happened.

Over the next few minutes, she began to relax under his touch, the bleeding slowing as the wound began to heal itself. Her fist unclenched, moving to grip the bench as she leaned back a little.

Mako continued to fix his mistake to the best of his ability, only to be slightly distracted by her beautiful face as it's tightness calmed, showing a much simpler expression of relief. His gaze fluttered back and forth between her gorgeous features and the skin of her neck.

"There. I think it's stopped completely and you're all cleaned up." He stood, grabbing the ice pack that was wrapped in paper towels off the floor. "You should probably hold this against it for a little while to keep it from swelling. Hopefully you won't have any black eyes tomorrow."

Her eyes fluttered open just slightly, giving a lidded expression as she stared at him for a few seconds. She reached out and took the pack, holding it against her face and slightly wincing upon contact.

"Thank you."

"No thanks necessary. It was my fault."

"Not really. I wasn't paying attention either and walked right into you. I can't help that I'm short, making me the perfect target for unsuspecting shoulders to prey upon." She winked at him and gave a sheepish smile.

'Seriously, this girl is perfect even when she's bruised and beaten.'

"It happens. I'm Mako, by the way." He held his hand out to shake. She took it, holding a second longer than most would in any typical introduction.

"Korra. It's nice to meet you!"

"Same," he responded, pulling his hand away after realizing his thumb had begun to brush against the back of her hand. "I don't know about you, but I think my workout is done. If I continue, who knows what kind of damage I may cause."

Her perfect laugh filled the air with joy once again. If his heart were able to show expressions, it'd be smiling widely at the sound.

"I think I'm done as well. I could probably use a day off from my full routine anyways."

"I've never seen you in here before and I'm here every day. Are you new?"

"Actually, I am. I just moved here. I don't even have a place to live yet. Right now I'm staying at the hotel just down the street." She motioned in the opposite direction. "I saw this place and figured I'd check it out. Seeing as I workout everyday and hotel rooms aren't the most spacious, finding a gym was high on the priority list."

"In that case, welcome to Republic City! This is the best gym on this side of town, so you picked well." He began grinning ear to ear as she spoke, noting that he'll likely see her again. Unfortunately, he was too passive to try requesting to see her outside of the free weight section just yet. 'You're a pathetic excuse of a man,' he internally bashed himself.

"Thanks. Well, I should get going. I have quite a few things I need to take care of today." She turned and began walking away, pausing after a few steps as she heard him speak once more.

"Will I see you here again?" he asked.

She turned her head just slightly, showing off the subtle smile that appeared on her lips. "Only if you promise not to hurt me again."

He gave an embarrassed chuckle. "I think I can manage that."

"Then it's a date," and with that she walked off.

His eyes widened at the words. 'A date?'


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

The next few days went by with the two running into each other at the gym; same time every day. However, Mako was still embarrassed by their initial encounter and never managed to sputter out more than a "hi" or "nice to see you again" before strolling off to his workout spot as quickly as possible. The glances they stole from one another was obvious, though, and he couldn't help but notice that she might be waiting for him to say more.

'You're being stupid and rude. Just go talk to her!' He yelled internally. 'It was an accident and you apologized. She's not going to hold it against you forever.' At that moment she looked up, catching his stare, and rubbed her nose and giggled. 'Okay, maybe she will…'

A few minutes later, he was putting his dumbbells back on the rack when a sweet, adorable voice caught his attention. "So, are you going to have an actual conversation with me, or just continue to apologetically stare from across the room from now on?" He turned to see a bright smile and swimming blue eyes looking up at him. 'Good lord, she's cute…'

"Uh – right… Well, I figured the smart thing would be to hide away until it was forgotten, but then I would have to find a new gym, and that's just too much effort."

She playfully punched him in the arm. "Oh, don't be over-dramatic! It's not a big deal. I'm fine, see?" She moved her face a little closer, turning it from side to side to give him a better look.

"That's… good. Yeah, good! Ha – alright, maybe I'm being a little weird about it."

"You're definitely being weird. Good thing you're cute."

His heart stopped beating immediately. 'She thinks I'm cute?!'

"Oh – uh… Thanks," was all he could manage as he began rubbing the back of his neck.

She giggled once again, that ridiculously adorable tune that he could listen to all day, every day. "Don't sweat it. You look like you're about to faint."

"I just might if you keep laughing like that," he responded as he dropped his hand and straightened up in an effort to act a little smoother.

"Ohhh, aren't you just the sweetest thing? Smooth talker – bonus points for you."

"We're keeping points now?"

"We are." She threw up one finger to show off his total. "You're no longer at zero. Unfortunately you both earned and lost points from the other day. But, you've managed to get back in the game." The wink she tossed his way made him weak at the knees.

"I'm glad to know I can at least attempt to salvage myself after such a poor introduction." He decided it was time to take a chance. "Would you be willing to let me make it up to you?"

She gave him a once over as she silently debated. For a moment, he thought she was going to turn him down and his heart sank. 'There goes that idea. Good job, Mako.' But then, she perked up a bit and smiled widely at him.

"I was wondering when you were going to ask! How about Saturday? I'm staying at the Royal Embassy Hotel. Pick me up around 7? I'll meet you in the lobby."

He stared, obviously perplexed at how direct this girl was. 'Be smooth.'

"Uh, yeah! That sounds great! Um – any thoughts on what you'd like to do?" His mind was racing with ideas of how the night would go, but couldn't settle on any one in particular.

"Seeing as that's a usual dinner time, that'd be a good start," she retorted while laughing at his genuinely confused face. "Anything after that I'll leave up to you. Lucky for you, I'm pretty flexible. I'm up for just about anything." She turned to walk towards the locker rooms, but leaned back for one more comment before stalking off. "I'll see you then! Don't keep me waiting." She winked and disappeared.

Mako stood there, positively stunned. 'Was that… an innuendo?'

He arrived at the hotel about 15 minutes early, fire lilies in hand and dressed the best slacks and button up he could find. 'I really need to shop for some nicer clothes,' he told himself as he fawned over his closet, tossing excessive amounts of workout clothes aside in an effort to find something clean and presentable. He paced back and forth in the lobby, sitting down for a minute at a time before getting up to move around again. His nerves were getting the better of him. It wasn't until the clock hit 7 on the dot and he heard the elevator doors open that he finally stopped moving.

'Wow…' His eyes grew wide and his mouth hung agape as he watched the girl step out and into the lobby towards him.

She work a dark, yet bright, blue dress that hugged her well from the waist up and panned out going lower, stopping just above her knees. The simple wide cut at the neck gave a perfect accent to her protruding collar bones and the sleeveless item showed off her well-sculpted arms just right. Her brilliant brown locks were left down, thrown over her shoulders and looking just slightly messy. Black heels gave her muscular calves a gorgeous look as her caramel skin looked soft and silky against her colorful attire.

Korra stopped just in front of him, her hands clasped together with a small grin on her face. "Are you going to say hi?"

He stood there, mouth still agape, nodding at the comment. Words were an inferior thing at this very moment.

She giggled. 'Stop that or I'll die!'

"Um – goodness… Yeah, hi. WOW… I mean, well, wow. You look…" He coughed, trying to process what he was about to say. "Perfect." His eyes widened again. 'Oh God, did I just say that out loud?'

She smiled that gorgeous, perfect smile that could stop wars. "Aw, thank you! That's very sweet of you."

Mako let out a breath, trying to come down from his momentary panic. "You're welcome. It's true though, you look positively stunning." He looked down, remembering the flowers in his hand. "Oh, these are for you! I hope you like them."

With both hands, she reached out and took the bouquet from him. She brought the flowers up to her nose, taking in a deep whiff of their succulent scent. Her features immediately calmed, taking on a look of content-ness. "They're perfect. These are my favorite flowers. Good choice!"

He clenched his fists and puffed out his chest proudly. "Awesome! Well, you want to get out of here?"

"Absolutely!" She grabbed his bicep and let him lead her out into the night.


End file.
